Cartoon Network’s The Boondocks was the only animated production to be recognized at that 66th Annual Peabody Awards. The selection board at the University of Georgia`s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication made its picks for best in electronic media for 2006 during a ceremony held Wednesday in the college’s Peabody Gallery. Broadcaster Bob Costas will host the official awards presentation on June 4 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
The Boondocks installment ‘Return of the King’ was honored for being ‘an especially daring episode.’ The show imagines Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reviving from a 32-year coma and outraging Americans of all colors and creeds by confronting them with truths that he, at least, still holds to be self-evident. The Martin Luther King Day special premiered on Jan. 8, 2006 and ranked No. 1 in its time period on basic cable with adults 18-34.
Produced by Rebel Base for Sony Pictures Television, the controversial animated series is based on Aaron McGruder`s syndicated comic strip that has two young, streetwise African-American brothers learning to cope with life in an upscale suburban neighborhood when they’re sent to live with their cantankerous grandfather. The show debuted during Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] block in November of 2005 and currently has a second season in production.
Other fictional TV productions among this year’s 35 award recipients were Showtime’s Brotherhood, ABC’s Ugly Betty, and the NBC series Scrubs, The Office and Friday Night Lights. To view the complete list of 2006 Peabody Award winners, go to www.peabody.uga.edu/news/pressrelease.asp?ID=14.
